Scouting for UFOs in Falcon Lake, Manitoba 👽

This year, Falcon Lake celebrates the 50th anniversary of a very unusual event. Do you believe in the unexplained?

The story of Stephen Michalak and the ‘Falcon Lake Encounter’ is one that will certainly leave you questioning the universe around you. It remains one of the most credible and well-documented cases in the world of a UFO sighting and is accepted as genuine by most UFO groups and investigators.

On May 19, 1967 Stephen stumbled out of the bush after prospecting the area for precious minerals. Covered in burns and ripe with sickness, Stephen emerged with a wild look in his eye. He had witnessed something that few would ever be able to contest.

Visitors and alien enthusiasts have been making their way to the area for decades to indulge their curiosities with the hope of having their own close encounter. The location of the landing site is tucked away deep in the Boreal Forest on a rocky clearing. If you’re keen, I’m sure you could find it on foot with a trusty map, a compass and a little luck. For the more skittish (like me), you may instead let a local cowboy lead the way to the infamous landing site on horseback. Devin and Kendra Imrie, owners and operators of Falcon Beach Ranch, provide a specialized UFO tour of the area surrounding their property.

The trail ride winds through the forest, leading you up and down rocky edges with an occasional stretch of trotting that will keep you on your toes. Watch as the landscape transforms throughout the 1.5 hour trip and find yourself surrounded by birch trees, pines and small bodies of water along the way.

After about 45 minutes, we climbed off our horses and continued our trek on foot. Our guide led us over the edge of the clearing to the open and rocky area where Stephen Michalak came upon two cigar-shaped space crafts, red and brilliant like fire and hovering in the air. Legend has it that upon sighting, one of the crafts quickly flew away in a westward direction while the second craft landed on a rock less than 200 feet from Michalak. A strong smell of sulfur filled the air and the UFO changed its colour to a steely grey. Stephan couldn’t believe his eyes when a hatch on the craft began to open.

Now this is the part when most people imagine little grey men with giant heads and oversized eyes coming into the light, but this story doesn’t include actual contact with alien beings. Instead, our guide described the small explosion and fire that burned Mr. Michalak’s clothing and skin. Pictures of radiation burns and diagrams of the UFOs were passed around to our group as our guide continued to unravel the story of the grid-like pattern that was burned into Stephan’s chest and abdomen, and the series of illnesses that plagued the man for years after the encounter.

As our guide Devin shared details with us, others in the group began to chime in with their own stories of UFOs and unexplained encounters. Several people in our group remembered other unusual sightings from that year in proximity to the landing site and confided their personal experiences. I had to keep looking over my shoulder as that feeling of being watched started creeping over me.

We could have spent hours telling tales there, comparing notes or looking for the slightest piece of evidence of a UFO landing; but as the daylight started to dwindle, we reluctantly made our way back to the horses and packed up for our return. There’s no shortage of mystery or intrigue surrounding the ‘Falcon Lake Encounter’ and the excitement spilled over into a group campfire back at the ranch. As dusk turned into night, a rustic fire pit complete with picnic tables and campfire weenies became our new story-telling venue. Keep your eyes skyward!